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Buongiorno. E’ stata una buona idea quella del Ministro della Difesa italiano di tenere questa riunione del ministri della Difesa di G7, perché abbiamo tante cose di cui parlare.

Abbiamo parlato questa mattina della situazione in Medio Oriente, in particolare in Libano. Abbiamo parlato di Africa, [anche se] l'Africa è troppo grande per parlare di una sola Africa, e di questioni di sicurezza.

Queste pomeriggio parleremo di Ucraina e altro. Oggi è importante parlare della situazione in Medio Oriente e in Ucraina.

Proseguo ora in inglese.

In the Middle East, Lebanon is at this moment the most important and pressing issue.

Certainly, after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, a new perspective is open and we have to use it in order to reach a ceasefire, to release the remaining hostages and to look for a political perspective.

We have to rebuild the sovereignty of Lebanon. We have to make the Lebanese institutions working.

The Lebanese have to take their responsibility. They have to elect a president, and we have to support them in order to make their army to be able to guarantee the security at the borders, which is not the case today.

The attacks against UNIFIL are completely unacceptable. They continue for three days in a row. The United Nations forces have to be respected all over the world and, in particular, where they are doing an incredible job as peacekeepers. Well, not peacekeepers anymore because there is no more peace in the world. Maybe the [mandate of the] mission of the UNIFIL has to be reviewed, but the first thing to do is the ceasefire.

We will talk about Ukraine this afternoon, but we got [Ukrainian President] Zelenskyy attending the European Union Council a couple of days ago. [President] Zelenskyy presented [there] the victory plan. I'm sure we will discuss about how we could support to implement the security plan.

I remain at your disposal for any questions that you could be interested.

Q&A

Q: [translated] What is your opinion about the possibility of ceasefire after the events in Gaza?

Well, I don't know if there is a possibility of a ceasefire or not. The only thing I can tell you is that Netanyahu continues insisting on conducting a military operation, but it should be an occasion. It should be a moment in which the agreement on ceasefire and release of the hostages could be obtained and to open the door for more humanitarian support.

The two Secretaries of State from the US, [for] Defense and Foreign Affairs, addressed a letter some days ago to the Israeli government asking to let more humanitarian support go into Gaza, because it is at the minimum level. It has never been so low.

So, this moment is a moment in which everything has to be reconsidered in order to get the remaining hostages to be freed.

The mandate of UNIFIL is not an executive mandate. What do I mean by that? If UNIFIL is patrolling and they discover a rocket launcher of Hezbollah, what do they have to do? What they have to do, is to call the Lebanese army and to warn them and ask them to go and act.

But they cannot act by themselves, which is certainly a limited role. It could be considered to expand this role, but it requires a United Nations Security Council decision. Because UNIFIL is there, not because Secretary General [Antonio] Guterres wanted [it], but because the Security Council wanted [it].

So why the Israeli government is asking Guterres to withdraw UNIFIL? Guterres cannot do it, because Guterres is only Secretary General of the United Nations. And decisions are not taken by him, but by the UN Security Council itself.

So I would be very much in favour of having a look at which is the mandate of UNIFIL in order to make it more effective. But this has to be presented to the UN Security Council.

Q: So if the big decisions to be taken now are by the UN, it's very limited the amount that you can do today within the G7, it sounds like.

We are not an executive meeting, but there is a lot to discuss and coordinate among us. And some of the members of this meeting are important members of the UN Security Council too.

Q: And what about Ukraine, are you considering the other discussion on the use of that long range missile and the right to use it?

There is not an agreement inside the European Union about it. Some member states are in favor, others are against it. It belongs to the nation state to take this decision. I am sure we'll talk about it this afternoon.

Thank you.

Watch the video here: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-262061